RFR 8009736: Comparator API cleanup

[Tom Hawtin]

On 12/06/2013 17:36, Paul Sandoz wrote:

> "The returned comparator is serializable and does not permit null arguments when comparing objects".

Being Serializable at all is odd. It brings the previously 
implementation-dependent name and fields into the API spec.

Serialisability also allows curious behaviour. Whilst not, say, a 
vulnerability itself, oddities aren't generally a good idea. For an 
example of strangeness, NullComparator can have a sign of 
-Integer.MIN_VALUE. It can also have a `real` field of null which is 
otherwise checked for during construction, although strangely the 
compare method also checks whether real is null or not.

Tom